How to exchange a non-privatized municipal apartment?

The question of whether it is possible to exchange a non-privatized apartment worries many citizens today, even despite the fact that the possibility of privatization has been open for more than twenty years. As government statistics show, there are still quite a lot of non-privatized residential real estate properties and not all employers are in a hurry to change this. At the same time, some residents express an active desire to exchange municipal housing and move away.

Many people start from old legislative norms, but the Housing Code of the Russian Federation has undergone many changes. In this regard, exchanging non-privatized real estate, especially if someone is against it, becomes an almost impossible task. In theory,

Such an action is quite possible, but in practice, most often the court refuses such requests. This applies to controversial situations. When the parties mutually agree, such difficulties do not arise.

It should be clearly understood that the status of municipal facilities and privatized apartments is different. This means that you cannot exchange housing of one status for living space of another.

Is the exchange realistic in a particular case?

The owner of a privatized apartment has the right to carry out any legal transactions with his real estate and alienate his property whenever and to anyone. But in the situation with municipal housing, everything is completely different. Residents who have received a social apartment, are registered in it and live on the basis of an agreement are not full owners. The property belongs to municipal authorities, so it cannot be sold, and can only be exchanged with the consent of the municipality. Without the permission of this body, it is impossible to exchange a municipal apartment. The rules and conditions of such a procedure are fixed from the 72nd to 75th articles of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation.

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To understand whether it makes sense to start an exchange, you need to know in which cases it is impossible. A refusal will be received if:

A claim has been filed against the tenant demanding termination of the contract due to its change;
The right to live in a municipal apartment is challenged in court;
The housing is officially recognized as unsuitable for its intended use;
The interdepartmental commission made a decision to recognize the house as unsafe and subject to demolition, or a decision was made to redevelop it with a major overhaul;
As a result of the exchange, a chronically ill citizen moves in, whose illness poses a threat to the health of other residents.

Difficulties may also arise when the social tenancy agreement does not contain a clause stipulating the possibility of exchanging housing.

Is it possible to exchange an apartment through an agency?

Real estate agencies rarely engage in direct exchange of non-privatized housing due to the rarity of counter options and the lack of a guarantee of profit .

There are several gray schemes using “buffer” apartments, which some agencies use in order to still carry out the exchange, but their implementation requires a great deal of trust from all parties involved.

Most realtors strongly recommend initially privatizing municipal housing, and then selling it and buying a new one.

privatize an apartment with the help of the same agency. At the same time, real estate agencies can help with finding a change option and help with paperwork .

So if you have doubts about your own ability to process the exchange, you can contact realtors and enter into an agreement for the provision of services that you will have to pay for. However, not every realtor will undertake this .

Sequencing

When wondering how to exchange a non-privatized apartment, you should not only determine whether such a procedure is possible, but also know in what sequence and what actions will need to be performed.

Once the reality of the exchange is confirmed, you will need to start looking for options for the exchange. Since this is far from a basic transaction where you can view or create ads and wait for the right opportunity, it is important to understand that sometimes you will not be able to progress beyond this point. This state of affairs is due to the fact that today there is not as much municipal housing as there used to be, and there are even fewer people willing to make an exchange in a given locality, especially a small one. In addition, the human factor cannot be excluded. To exchange municipal housing, it is necessary for both parties to come to an agreement and find the new living conditions acceptable to themselves. This is a significant problem, since it usually means living with strangers, with whom it is not always possible to find a common language.

If an option for exchange is found, the next step is to prepare the necessary documents, a list of which is presented below. After this, it is necessary to obtain the consent of the municipality for the exchange and permission to do so on behalf of all adult capable residents of the apartment. When these stages are completed, an exchange agreement is drawn up, and new social rental agreements are concluded.

Voluntary exchange: step-by-step instructions

Using the following algorithm you can exchange a municipal apartment:

choose the appropriate option;
during negotiations, they determine acceptable exchange conditions with the tenant of a suitable property;
clarify verbally the consent of family members of both parties;
receive written permission from the POiP if a minor child lives in the apartment;
collect the necessary supporting documents;
conclude an exchange agreement (EA) according to a standard model, taking into account the preliminary agreement;
certify the document with the signatures of the participants;
submit the DM for approval to the administration of the relevant municipalities;
after receiving a positive response, they draw up new social rental contracts and organize relocation.

For your information! Since there is no transfer of ownership rights, registration of the exchange of a municipal apartment in Rosreestr is not required.

Collecting consent from residents

Real estate can be exchanged between relatives if there are no objections from family members (LC RF, Article 72). These intentions are confirmed by personal signatures in the application to the landlord. It is allowed to formalize such a decision using a notarial document. It will not be possible to exchange a municipal apartment if there is no written consent of all family members.

The rights of minor children are protected separately. In accordance with current standards, their relocation is permissible only if their living conditions are maintained (improved). Compliance is checked by responsible employees of the territorial guardianship and trusteeship authorities (TSA). As a rule, the following criteria are specified:

living space dimensions;
technical equipment, sanitary condition of premises;
wall materials and other general building parameters;
the presence of a school, clinic, and other social and public infrastructure facilities.

According to current regulations, a response must be provided no later than 14 working days after the corresponding written request.

For your information! The refusal may be motivated by the lack of a separate room for the child. To avoid time delays and other problems, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the list of local guardianship requirements in advance.

Similar restrictions with the approval mechanism apply to persons declared incompetent. To exchange an apartment between relatives in such a situation, you need permission from the POiP.

Obtaining permission from the administration

No special confirmation from the municipality is required. An application with a notice of intent and an exchange agreement are submitted to the local administration. If there are no objections, the approval of these documents is certified by the signature of the responsible person with the seal of the department. The refusal is issued indicating specific reasons. The processing time for the application is 10 working days. A negative decision can be challenged in court.

Where to look for housing for exchange

The limited number of offers in the relevant segment of the real estate market creates objective difficulties in the search process. According to current statistics, municipal housing accounts for no more than 15-20% of all residential properties. It is unlikely that contacting professional realtors will be effective. However, a standard algorithm search should be performed in open specialized databases. As in normal situations, they use filtering based on specified criteria.

For your information! The standard form of reference resources does not involve sorting by the criterion “municipal housing for exchange.”

Some administrations offer a selection of suitable options for a fee. You can check the availability of relevant services on the official website, by phone, or during a personal visit to the relevant department of the municipality.

We collect additional documents

To exchange an apartment between relatives, the following is submitted to the municipal administration:

an application signed by the responsible tenant and all family members registered at this address;
a copy of the current social tenancy agreement;
certificate of registered residents;
confirmation of the absence of rent arrears;
consent of the OAiP (if there is a minor child in the family);
barter agreement;
civil passports (other identification documents) of all participants;
notarized consents of temporarily absent residents.

For your information! In large municipalities, you can submit an application along with contracts and other accompanying documents through the MFC branch.

We sign the exchange agreement

This agreement is concluded in writing between the responsible employers. The text notes:

number of family members;
description of the apartment (other residential property);
absence of encumbrances on the relevant property;
mutual obligations to conclude social rental agreements under the terms of the move;
liability of the parties and penalties;
procedure for resolving controversial issues.

Attention! Download the standard exchange contract.

We renegotiate social employment contracts

At the final stage, the right of residence at the new address is issued. To do this, a standard social rental agreement is concluded. A sample document can be obtained from the local administration office or on the official website of the relevant municipality.

Attention! View a standard social rental agreement.

Finding the right option

Before exchanging a non-privatized apartment, it is important to assess the reality of your intention, and this means not only meeting all the requirements, but also finding an option for relocation with tenants who agree to exchange.
The best option would be to exchange with friends or relatives, but this is not always possible and not as often as we would like. Based on this, we can conclude that exchanging a non-privatized apartment is difficult in terms of finding options. The search is carried out independently, or with the help of the services of real estate agencies. In the latter case, it will be faster, since realtors have their own database of clients and offers, but, accordingly, it will be more expensive, since the services of agents are not free. In addition, in addition to direct search, realtors help prepare the necessary papers, and also advise on many controversial issues, taking on negotiations if the client so desires.

Independent search follows the standard procedure - viewing and submitting advertisements, searching through friends, colleagues, relatives. This is a longer, but financially economical option. But it will take quite a lot of time.

What are the exchange options

Privatized and non-privatized apartments have completely different legal status.
Therefore, free exchange is possible only for apartments from a fund owned by the same owner (municipal or state). And this is a rather complicated operation: the number of non-privatized apartments is constantly decreasing, so it is very difficult to select 2 or more apartments of a smaller area for exchange. Perhaps it will be easier to first privatize housing, and then deal with its exchange (See Why do you need to privatize an apartment? We weigh the pros and cons).

And it will be completely impossible to exchange a service apartment or specialized housing (from the flexible fund, social, etc.). It is better not to consider such options from the very beginning. After all, specialized housing is expressly prohibited from being exchanged. It is also prohibited to allow temporary residents under a sublease agreement into such apartments.

Documents and permits

The main feature in the question “how to exchange a municipal apartment” is the mandatory registration of such a transaction in Rosreestr. It is the registration authorities that decide all the legal aspects that such an exchange entails.

Speaking about the list of required documents, it is worth noting that it must be collected for each non-privatized object being exchanged, that is, for both apartments.

Name of documents:

A written application for exchange on behalf of all residents of the apartment;
A single housing document, if the real estate is located in the capital;
An extract from the house register and a certificate stating that there is no debt for utility services;
Municipal tenancy agreement;
Passport of each exchange participant or birth certificate for minor citizens;
Consent on behalf of all residents, necessarily certified by a notary;
Technical documents for housing (floor plan, explication, cadastral passport and plan).

Permission from the board of trustees may also be required if minor children are registered in the exchanged apartments. If someone interferes with the exchange, the conflict will have to be resolved exclusively through the courts.

Consent of residents

To begin the exchange process, all citizens over 14 years of age registered in the apartment must sign a written consent. The law does not require consent.

How consent is expressed:

Signature on the document, certified by a specialist when accepting papers at the administration.
The document must be certified by a notary.

If there are minor registered citizens, it is necessary to obtain the consent of the guardian for the exchange.

Forced exchange

The exchange of a non-privatized apartment through the court becomes relevant due to disagreements between residents, when someone does not want to leave and does not give his consent to this. This is a significant obstacle and for this reason the judicial body most often issues a negative verdict.

When the exchange cannot be achieved through amicable agreement, the municipality will not be able to help. Both those who want to change housing and those who, on the contrary, oppose this have the right to file a claim. Such cases are considered by studying all the arguments and grounds, and the decision will be based on the fact that none of the participants should suffer damage to their interests and rights as a result.

In addition, it is important to understand that exchanging a municipal apartment during a marital divorce is also not possible, since this is not a valid reason. That is, such a procedure can be carried out in a general manner when both spouses agree to it. You can also try to force an exchange through the courts. But, as practice shows, demands for the forced exchange of non-privatized housing are often rejected by the court. To facilitate the satisfaction of a claim for the exchange of a non-privatized apartment, it is advisable to present to the court an already found option for moving out. This increases your chances significantly.

What can interfere?

In Art. 73 of the RF Housing Code outlines a number of circumstances prohibiting the exchange of non-privatized housing:

The living space is classified as official or allocated by a specialized fund;
There is arrears in paying utility bills , which can lead to litigation around the apartment;
Housing has emergency status;
The house must be demolished or overhauled , or completely re-equipped for other purposes;
A citizen undergoing treatment for a dangerous infectious disease can move into communal housing ;
Guardianship and trusteeship authorities are able to “block” the exchange if minors, incompetent or partially capable persons living with any of the parties have less living space than stipulated by legislative acts.